Sales outlook brightens in NJ for 4th year

The New Jersey Business and Industry Association’s 2014 outlook survey released Tuesday finds businesses more confident about their future than at any time since the Great Recession officially ended more than four years ago.

Every year, more than 1,000 business owners provide their expectations on hiring, sales and profits for the coming year.

In the latest survey, 57 percent of those responding say they expect the dollar value of their sales to increase. Only15 percent predict a decline.

About a fourth of the companies surveyed say they expect to hire more workers in the year ahead while only 9 percent say they plan reductions.

Business and Industry Association President Philip Kirschner calls the post-recession progress in New Jersey “solid and steady.”